Shattered
by LadyValerious
Summary: Verona has a wish. It is a seemingly simple desire, but every time her hope is shattered and only failure remains...


**Shattered**

Rated: PG

Verona has a wish, a seemingly simple desire. But every time, her hope is shattered and only failure remains.

**A/N: I always wondered about poor Verona, the vampire bride who seemed to want children so badly but could never fulfill her impossible dream. I also wondered—how exactly were those weird vampire babies born, anyway? Kind of strange, I know...but those questions turned into this story. I think you will like it, especially if you like the brides. Please tell me what you think...ideas and constructive criticism very welcome!

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Verona was the quiet, worldly, cold one. She was untouchable, distant—like ice, smooth and unreadable.

Something distanced her a little from the other brides, elevated her a little more. She had an aura about her of control, power, though of course she actually had none at all.

She didn't know how, exactly, she had given this image to her fellow brides, but they had always respected her, looked up to her. Almost like daughters.

She was the first bride, and had known Dracula for years before he became what he was now. She had seen much in almost four hundred years, and he was at her side for all of the. If he was capable of love—which he was once—even in death he would love her very much. She supposed this gave her some priority, a star that shone just a _little_ brighter than its sisters, though not anymore beautiful or remarkable than them.

She spent her days, months, years, and centuries roaming Castle Dracula, even while Marishka and Aleera explored the Transylvanian countryside. She only went out when required, to help her Master in some way. After all, she had to, and it did not seem like a burden to her, anyway. She was never much of an explorer, though, and preferred to read, think, talk instead. It made her feel almost human again.

Not that she was complaining, of course. She had _chosen_ to become a vampire, was fortunate in that regard, in comparison to the other brides. To be with him, forever. He had not forced her. He was kind—most of the time. And yes—she loved him, even now.

But still...

She remembered—just barely—being a young human girl, dreaming of a husband, children, a family. It was ironic, really, that more than three hundred years later this was where she was. Children...

It was a desire that often pounded her near-frozen heart to bits, almost shattering the ice surrounding it. She had not told Marishka about it, and certainly not young Aleera. Only he knew.

She had told him first only fifty years after the Changing, during the years when she was the only one, all that he desired. They had been sitting at the dining table, sipping blood from a fresh victim, when she had broached the topic.

"Master..." she had said hesitantly, during a lull in the conversation.

"Yes?" he said, looking up at her quizzically. It was not often that she called him that, in the beginning, usually preferring his name to his 'title'. It had unnerved him a little, at first, but now it was what was expected...things had changed.

"I—I have a question."

"Go on." He refilled his glass, slicing open the dead girl's other wrist, and took a long sip.

Verona had looked at her own empty glass, analyzing it, as she said, quickly, to get it over with, "I wish to bring our children to life."

Silence.

She looked up slowly, hesitantly. He was frozen, his hand on the glass, staring at her expressionlessly.

She looked down again, and he said quietly, with an edge of—anger? annoyance? sadness?—to his voice, "You ask an impossible task, Verona."

"I see."

He had left then, simply got up and leaped off the balcony, changing into his other form and flying off, leaving Verona sitting alone at the table, confused and defeated.

She had not mentioned it again for another seventy years, and by then half a corridor was filled with her offspring, dead—and waiting.

This time, he listened.

She listened, too, and soon a plan began to take form. An unlikely plan, but a possible plan.

And slowly, renewed hope planted itself in Verona's undead heart for the second time.

Surely there was a way.  
There must be.

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**A/N: Was this an okay start? I plan to do some more flashbacks and go through the events hinted at in the movie, about the first try at bringing the children to life, then to the actual events in the movie, then finally Verona's death. I will update very soon.**


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